Where is the water going?

[pb4uski]

Just go down to the County Detention facility and barrow 4 or 5 trustees with shovels for the day. . On second thought , it might be frowned upon at your local. Still happens in some jurisdictions.

If you decide to use PEX , it must be PEX -AL -PEX for potable water underground. (Has an aluminum middle layer) The aluminum prevents chemical migration from the soil , such as pesticides and fertilizers. Ordinary PEX, even with oxygen barrier, can allow some chemicals to migrate in.

Interesting, never heard of that pex. Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'm running a potable water line from my house to my garage but through a 1 1/2" black plastic pipe and was going to just run the regular 1/2" pex through it - I assume that would be ok since the pex isn't contacting the ground at all. Make sense?

 

[Lakewood90712]

Interesting, never heard of that pex. Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'm running a potable water line from my house to my garage but through a 1 1/2" black plastic pipe and was going to just run the regular 1/2" pex through it - I assume that would be ok since the pex isn't contacting the ground at all. Make sense?

Yes , that is an approved method to avoid soil contact. Besides PEX-AL-PEX is much more expensive , is much stiffer, and hard to find.

 

[Live And Learn]

Hi Walt. The suspense is killing me. What did the plumber find and where IS all the water going ?

 

[Walt34]

Sorry, he was here yesterday. The water is going into the drain tile around the foundation to the house and out to a drain down the hill behind. From there it either goes into the creek behind the house or percolates down through the shale rock soil we have in this area.

Oh, and the next-door neighbor had some help from his insurance company - his out of pocket was $1,200 but the total was a bit more, $3,400 which is what I think ours is going to be or at least that is the estimate. And that is more in line with what I expected anyway.

The plumber said insurance policies differ - some will cover the removal of the old pipe (most expensive part anyway) but not the install of the new one. I'll check with ours Monday and see. Frankly I don't expect them to cover it - this to me is more of a maintenance item, not an insurable catastrophic loss.

I'm just grateful that we're in a position to write a check for it and get on with things and not have to be scrambling to find a loan and all that other nonsense like so many other people would have to do.

They're going to try to get it done Tuesday, unseasonably warm weather is forecast so that will be a good day to get it done.

 

[aja8888]

Hi Walt. The suspense is killing me. What did the plumber find and where IS all the water going ?

Ditto...we are all sitting on the edge of our seats.....

 

[REWahoo]

I'm just grateful that we're in a position to write a check for it and get on with things and not have to be scrambling to find a loan and all that other nonsense like so many other people would have to do.

+1

As much as a grouse and grumble about shelling out to pay for something like this, I'm ever so thankful the expense really isn't significant to our bottom line and has no real impact to our standard of living. And I'm equally thankful I didn't have to pick up a pick and shovel like when I did a similar repair to a leaking water line thirty years ago!

 

[Sue J]

I'm glad you found out what's wrong. So this is all outside, right? Our water meter is inside the basement so an outside leak would not show up in our water meter. Is yours not like that?

Nevermind, I went back and read your first post and you said your meter is close to the street.

We have a shut off valve in the tree lawn near the street, then a meter in the house with an additional shut off valve.

 

[Walt34]

And I'm equally thankful I didn't have to pick up a pick and shovel like when I did a similar repair to a leaking water line thirty years ago!

Yes, that would have been me too. Thankfully I never had to.

We have a shut off valve in the tree lawn near the street, then a meter in the house with an additional shut off valve.

I suppose it all depends on the code in effect at the time the respective house was built. The house I grew up in and one I had later had the gas & water meters on the inside and someone had to be home to have the meters read or you had to mail in the postcard with the reading.

Later on they put all the meters outside, and now they all have radio transmitters on them so the meter readers don't have to get out of the car. Now if that isn't an invitation to to hack a signal I don't know what is.

 

[Sue J]

A few years ago our city swapped out all the electric and water meters and changed them all to wireless Automated Meter Reading. I love the change because I used to have to stick my head in a hole in a cabinet in the basement to read the meter. When we got our first digital camera I would stick the camera in there and get a picture of the meter rather than put my head in!

I think ours is internet based, we can see extra WiFi networks that may be our utility meters.

 

[Walt34]

A guy came to mark all the utility lines this morning and the loader was delivered this afternoon. I couldn't resist the photo op and E-mailed these and a couple more to all my family with the caption "We're ready for winter!"

 

[Ronstar]

Nice! Yep - You may want to hang on to that machine for a while

 

[Walt34]

Nice! Yep - You may want to hang on to that machine for a while

I'd like to but the rental is just under $300/day. But during the next snowstorm the neighbors would shower me with gifts!

 

[eytonxav]

Walt, I'd be tempted to try that baby out. Did they leave you the keys?

 

[Walt34]

Did they leave you the keys?

Yes they did, and it is indeed very tempting. But then I think about that joy-killing word, "Liability..."

And the first house I damaged would probably be my own.

 

[Walt34]

We now have running water again!

Plumber arrived about 8:30 AM and we've been w/o running water since then. We planned ahead for that of course and even planned for going several days if we had to in case things went awry.

That last photo is where the water meter is and several other utilities are nearby so that had to be dug out by hand. I felt a little sorry for those two guys. That is work!

 

[bld999]

"I felt a little sorry for those two guys. That is work! "

No jackets, no hats, no rain gear, flat ground, no obstructions,... they're likely happy guys!

 

[Lakewood90712]

So it's " Honey , I got you a new water line for X-mass " this year

 

[braumeister]

Looks very much like the job I had done.
I remember marveling at the dexterity of the guy running the little backhoe. He had such a deft touch with it, and made it look easy.

 

[Beldar]

What's that green stuff on the ground?

FWIW, the plumbers that replaced my waterline 2 weeks ago did it with jackhammer and shovel (lots of caliche here). I need to pick it out of the gravel this weekend (what a mess, they weren't landscapers). They also had to prune back a desert willow.

They did add some extra hose bibs, shutoffs and a pressure regulator though. My house was on city pressure of 100psi and that apparently was too high, so it's now regulated down to 65psi.

You must be relieved to have it all over with.

 

[Walt34]

You must be relieved to have it all over with.

We sure are. Given the weather, yesterday may well turn out to be the last possible day of the year it could be done. Wow, that's cutting it close!

The front yard is a mess of course and will pretty much remain so until late spring. The plumber did say he will be back in the spring to put down seed and hay. In the meantime DW and I will pick at the rocks, smooth over the rough spots from time to time and the like, and when the weather is right we'll seed if the plumber doesn't get here first. There is no need to bust a gut doing this since we can pick at it 15-30 minutes at a time once or twice a week or so and still be done in plenty of time. Ain't retirement grand?

 

[braumeister]

There is no need to bust a gut doing this since we can pick at it 15-30 minutes at a time once or twice a week or so and still be done in plenty of time. Ain't retirement grand?

What's even nicer is that after your recent medical experience you are predisposed to do it the slow and easy way. So no guilt to stress you.

 

[ERD50]

...
This month I rechecked all the toilets (food coloring in the tank, wait a full day, no change in bowl water color) and they're fine. ...

But it won't catch if a stuck-on "refill tube" is pushing water down the overflow pipe for some reason. This is unusual failure scenario, but if it occurs, dye won't indicate it.

I was just suspecting a toilet leak, and I found a simpler (to me) method than food coloring (yes, I spilled a drop, and was sweating bullets that I'd get it cleaned up w/o leaving a stain). And it should catch both flapper valve and overflow tube leaks:

Quickly pour a bucket of water into the bowl, enough to get it to start flushing, then stop and the flush action will siphon most of the water out of the bowl. The water level will be pretty low. Since you didn't flush with the handle, it won't get refilled. Note the water level, and check it for a few hours. If the water doesn't rise, no leak!

-ERD50